Federal NDP leadership hopeful Jagmeet Singh is garnering praise for the way he reacted to a woman who accused him last week of supporting Islamic extremism, because he chose to come out against “all forms of hate” instead of emphasizing that he is Sikh rather than Muslim.

August 3, 2017

The Ontario MPP was interrupted by an angry heckler at a meet and greet last Wednesday in Brampton, Ont. The woman stood in front of the candidate and shouted as aides tried to usher her aside in an incident that was caught on video and shared widely on social media well beyond Canada’s borders.

The woman accused Singh of wanting to impose Shariah law, an Islamic legal code based on the Qur’an, and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, an 89-year-old religious and political group. The exchange was caught on video and lasted more than four minutes.

“Many people have commented that I could have just said I’m not Muslim. In fact, many have clarified that I’m actually Sikh,” Singh explained in a statement.

“While I’m proud of who I am, I purposely didn’t go down that road because it suggests their hate would be OK if I was Muslim.”

A political science professor told CBC News on Monday that Singh took the right approach.

“It suggests the fact that he is not Muslim is irrelevant,” said Erin Tolley, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

“You can just imagine for example a white politician standing in front of a room and heard something racist being said. The exact wrong reaction is to say, ‘Well, I’m white, I’m not a person of colour, so this isn’t important to me.’”

Singh wanted to defuse the situation, she said, highlighting that hate of all forms is wrong, whether it’s directed at your community or not.

His response also signals that Singh, who wears a turban, has experience dealing with direct threats because of his outwardly religious appearance. (Source: CBC News)

This cartoon received an unusual amount of criticism through the mackaycartoons Facebook Page:

Republished in a number of publications. Below the Edmonton Journal and the Western Star, Corner Brook, Newfoundland:

Justin Trudeau’s Ontario road show takes on partisan edge

Canadians who want to meet Justin Trudeau during his upcoming road tour town halls are being asked to first register their personal details with Liberal Mps.

That puts a political taint on the prime minister’s attempt at grassroots mingling, Conservative MP Candice Bergen (Portage–Lisgar) said Wednesday.

“Don’t call it an open town hall when it’s actually a Liberal rally,” she said. “It’s not at all the back-to-the-people tour that the prime minister described.”

Trudeau’s tour, which kicks off Thursday in Ontario, was originally framed as an effort by the prime minister to reconnect with Canadians on their priorities.

“The prime minister wants to hear from them on how they are feeling at the start of 2017, what their concerns and anxieties are, and what we can do to help alleviate that,” spokesperson Cameron Ahmed told the Star last week.

But the road trip — which continues on to Quebec, Prairies, and B.C. — has taken on partisan overtones as Liberal MPs hosting Trudeau at some of his Ontario stopovers are using their websites to glean personal data of those who want to attend.

Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, who is hosting Trudeau’s Thursday town hall event in Kingston, promoted the event on Twitter and Facebook. “The prime minister wants to hear from you about issues that matter to you and our community as we enter the new year,” Gerretsen wrote.

His social media postings directed those who want to attend to sign up on his web page. To register for the event, attendees are asked to provide their name, email, postal code and telephone number. (Source: Toronto Star)

No five: Prince George refuses greeting from Canada’s Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau’s charm has finally met its match in the form of good old-fashioned British reserve.

The Canadian prime minister was shut down while trying to greet Britain’s Prince George on the runway when the royal family arrived for their tour of British Columbia.

Prince William and Kate’s children begin ‘lifetime of friendship’ with Canada

December 4, 2012

Landing in Canada on Saturday on a week-long official visit with parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the prince simply shook his head when Trudeau squatted down to the toddler’s level to offer a high-five variation, the low-five.

Trudeau then switched his palm for a high-five and subsequently offerTuesday September 27, 2016ed a handshake, both of which were seemingly rebuffed, creating an awkward moment at the airport in the western province.

Canadians felt the princely snub acutely, accustomed as they are to seeing their young premier win over millions of fans around the world and attain social media star status.

February 24, 2007

The prince has a history of unconventional meetings with heads of state. While he shook hands with Barack Obama on his visit to England in April, the prince received the US president in his pajamas. Obama later joked that the prince’s attire was “a slap in the face” and a clear breach of protocol.

The prince and his year-old sister, Princess Charlotte, are in Canada for the first time but it is the second trip for their parents, who visited in 2011.

On Sunday, the duke and duchess were to visit the Immigration Services Society of British Columbia to meet staff and volunteers who help recent migrants to the area. The couple also is scheduled to meet young leaders of various industries in Canada and some of Vancouver’s first responders.

November 25, 2015

Before leaving Canada on 1 October, the couple is expected to have more than more than 30 engagements, including with aboriginal Canadian communities.

William is second in line to succeed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, who has been Canada’s head of state since she ascended to Britain’s throne in 1952. (Source: The Guardian)

Coffee spewed out both my nostrils this morning after seeing Graeme MacKay’s morning cartoon. That has to be one of the best I’ve seen this year. The whole encounter with our PM at the airport shows that a three year old has more sense than the Canadian voting public. We all know that children can sense when something is not to be trusted.

Tony Fidanza, Hamilton

Royals would never be so insulting

I found MacKay’s cartoon, about Prince George’s hesitation to high five Justin Trudeau, to be inappropriate. Let’s look at it from the child’s perspective. After a 10-hour flight, it was midnight, British time, when the family arrived in B.C. Prince George was likely woken up, dressed and taken out onto the tarmac. The situation was overwhelming to a small child and the prime minister was a stranger. High five gestures are not used often in Britain. George acted like a three year old, because he IS a three year old.

The editorial cartoon has George saying to Justin, “Grow up and bow to your future king, you bloody selfie-aggrandizing peasant? And get a haircut, you’re a walking disaster.” Even an adult member of the Royal Family would never use rude or critical words, or suggest that Trudeau was beneath them. To suggest that they, or their three year old son would show such disrespect toward commoners, is offensive.

Molly Shannon, Hamilton

Don’t back off satirizing our celebrities

I have been following some of the social media outcry over this cartoon that pokes fun both at the Royals and Justin Trudeau. I am forced to conclude too many of your readers are humourless souls who don’t have a clue about irony and satire. Please don’t let them bully you into making the characters in our cult of celebrity into sacred cows. If anything, more fun needs to be poked more often.

Janice Henshaw, Hamilton

Stop harassing Trudeau and Royals

I have been subscribing to Hamilton Spectator for the last 80 years. I am shocked by this cartoon. If you think this is humorous, then I think you are a sick group of people. In the last few months you have been making jokes about Trudeau that are in poor taste. But now you are also including our Royal visitors to Canada. What is going to come next … these cartoons are lowbrow, not clever and definitely not amusing. I hope this harassment of both Prime Minister Trudeau and the Royal Family has come to an end.

William Bell, Burlington

This cartoon was featured during a panel of English speaking cartoonists at Le festival 1001Visages, VAl-David, Quebec on October 9, 2016. L-R: Me, Sue Dewar, Christian Vachon, Tim Leatherbarrow, and Wes Tyrell. A great venue that will host the convention of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists in 2018.

How common is harassment on Parliament Hill?

Parliament Hill was rattled with story, on Wednesday, that some senior press gallery types noted that they hadn’t seen before.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was forced to suspend two members of his party’s caucus — ethics critic Scott Andrews and Quebec MP Massimo Pacetti — after two female New Democrat MPs alleged they were harassed by them.

“I am aware of how difficult it is for people to come forward. I believe strongly that those of us in positions of authority have a duty to act upon allegations of this nature,” Trudeau said, according to CBC News.

“It’s 2014 — we have a duty to protect and encourage individuals in these situations to come forward. The action must be fair but decisive.It must be sensitive to all affected parties but, recognizing how difficult it is to do so, it must give the benefit of the doubt to those who come forward.”

It’s unclear, at this point, what kind of harassment the NDP MPs are alleging. We don’t know if it was sexual, verbal, physical or otherwise.

While no MP has ever been suspended for harassing another MP, that doesn’t mean that there’s not a culture of harassment on the Hill.

Political consultant Marcel Wieder sayst that harassment — sexual or otherwise — has happened on the Hill for decades.

“While blatant examples of sexual harassment on the Hill are few and far between there have been some less overt situations. All parties have made an effort to keep things quiet and deal with these sensitive issues internally,” Wieder, President of the Aurora Strategy Group, told Yahoo Canada News.

“Given the nature of the environment in Ottawa where people are separated from their families for long stretches coupled with the high pressure jobs, an active social scene and attraction to power has caused some people to lose their moral compass.

“This has contributed to strained relationships that resulted in a number of divorces among MPs and staffers in Ottawa and resulted in some unpleasant situations involving accusations of sexual harassment.”

Again, we don’t know exactly what Andrews and Pacetti are being accused of or even if they’re guilty of anything.

What is clear however, is that not many people are surprised by the allegations. People understand that this stuff exists on the Hill — enough people that something now needs to be done about it. (Source: Andy Radia | Yahoo News)